Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-06-18
JESS.
ByH.RlDER HAeeARD.
.Hu&srot 'Nrs sofoHossmqes SksEts.
tcoNTINUED.)
CHAPTER XVII.

got accustomed TO It, was not SO dlSagreeabl6
as might have been expected, and possessed,
at any rate, the merit of novelty. Although
he was an officer of the army, John preferred,
on the whole, having several horses to ride,
and, his services not being otherwise re-
quired, he made up his mind to en-
roll himself in the corps of mounted vol
unteers known as the Pretoria carbineers, in
the humble capacity of a sergeant, and this
he obtained leave to do from the officer COM
manding the troops. He was an active man,
and his duties in connection with the corps
kept him fully employed during most of the
day, and sometimes, when there was outpost
duty to be done, during good part of the
night too. For the rest, whenever
he got back to the cart-by
which he had stipulated he should
be allowed to sleep in order TO protect
jess in case of any danger-he always found
her ready to greet him, and every little
preparation made for his comfort that was
possible under the circumstances Indeed, as
time went on they found it more convenient
TO set up their own little mess instead of
sharing that of their friends, and so they
used every day to sit down to breakfast and
dine together at little table rugged up out of
packing case, and placed under an extern
porary tent, all for the world like young
couple picnicking en- their honeymoon. OF
course the whole thing was very irksome
in a way, but it is not to be denied that
it had charm of its own. To begin with,
jess, when once one got thoroughly to know
her, was one of the most delightful COM
paniOns to a man like John Mel that it
was possible to meet with. Never, till this
long tete a tete at Pretoria, had he guessed
how powerful and original was her mind,
Or how witty she could be when she liked
There was a fund of dry and suggestive
humor about her which, although it would
no more bear being written down than
champagne will bear standing i'll lumber,
was very pleasant to listen to, more especially
as John soon discovered that he was the only
person so privileged Her friends and re-
lations had never suspected that jess was
humorous. Another thing that struck him
about her, as time went on, was that she was
growing quite handsome She had been very
pale and thin when he reached Pretoria, but
before a month was over she had got, com
paratively speaking, stout, which was an
enormous gain to her appearance. Her pale
face, too, gathered faint tinge of color, that
came and went caprieiously, like starlight on
the water, and her beautiful eyes grew deeper
and more beautiful than ever.
"Who would ever have thought that it was
the same girl!" said Mrs Neville to him,
holding up her hands as she watched jess
solemnly surveying half cooked mutton
chop; 'why, she used to be such a poor crea-
sbnr,
that with this life, too, which is wearing me
to shadow, and has half killed MY dear
daughter"
Il suppose it is being in the open air." said
John, it having never occurred to him that
the medicine that was doing jess so much
good might be happiness. But so it was. Al
first there had been struggle, then lull
and after that an idea. Why should she not
enjoy his society while she could' He had
been thrown into her way through no wish
of hers. She had no desire to wean him from
Bessie; or if she had desire, 1t was one she
was far too honorable woman to entertain.
He was perfectly innocent of the whole story
to him she was the young lady who happened
TO be the sister of the woman he was, going to
marry, that was all Why should she not
pluck her innocent roses while she might
She forgot that the rose is flower with g
dangerous perfume, and one that is apt tt
confuse the senses and turn the head So she
gave herself full swing, and for some weeks
went nearer to knowing what happiness
really meant than she ever had before. What
a wonderful thing is the love of a woman in
its simplicity and strength and how it gid,
all the poor and common things of life, and
even finds joy III servicei The prouder the
woman the more delight does she extract
| from her self AMUSEMENT before her idol Only
not many women can love like jess, ant
when they do they almost invariably make
some fatal mistake, whereby the wealth o.
| their affection is wasted, or worse still, be
comes source of misery OF shame to them
| selves and others.
1t was after they had been incarcerated il
| Pretoria for about month that a bright ide,
occurred to John. About quarter Of mill
| from the outskirts of the camp stood littl
| house known, probably on account of il
diminutive size. as The Palatial" This cot
tage had been, like almost every other hous
in Pretoria, abandoned to its fate, its owner
as it happened, being away from the town
| One day, i'll the course of walk, John AM
| jess crossed the little bridge that SPAWNED til
| slut and went in to inspect the place. Pass
| ing down a path lined on either side witt
| young blue gums, they reached the little til
| rooted cottage. 1t consisted Of two rooms
bedroom and a good sized sitting room, il
which still stood a table and few chairs
| with stable and a kitchen at the back. The
| went in and sat down by the open door an
looked out. The grounds of the little plac
sloped down toward valley, on the farthe
side of which rose a wooded hill To til
right, too. was a hill clothed in deep gree
bush The grounds themselves were plante
with vines, just now loaded with punches Q
ripening grapes, and surrounded with
| beautiful hedge of monthly roses that forme
blaze of bloom. Near the house. too, was
bed of double roses, some of them exceedingl
beautiful, and all Towering with profusio
unknown in this country. Altogether it wa
delightful little spot, and, after the noise an
glare of the camp, seemed perfectly heavenly
and they sat there and talked a great des
about the farm and old Silas Croft, and
| little about Bessie.
This is nice, said jess presently, putin
her hands behind her head and looking out Q
the bush beyond.
"Yes," said John. II say, I've got an ide;
vote We take up our quarters here-durin
the day, | mean. OF course we shall have I
sleep i'll camp, but we might eat here, 70
know, and you could sit here all day;
would he as safe as a church, for those Loci
will never try to storm the town, am SUI
of that"
jess reflected and soon came to the conclI
sion that it would be a charming arTang'
ment, and accordingly next day she set I
work and got the place as nice end tidy {
circumstances would allow, and they con
menced housekeeping.
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